After New Moon
by destiiiny
Summary: This is my version of...after New Moon! Well, just a snippet, actually. It's not quite finished...


"Only a few days remaining," I hummed.

Edward's lips tightened and he glanced at me momentarily before resuming back to the task at hand - which for him, was staring blankly out my bedroom window.

"Bella, you must be frightened." His eyes slowly rose to the curtain rail above the open window. "This isn't at all celebratory or, as you seem to find it, funny."

"Sorry." I mumbled, wiggling my toes.

From the seat he was sitting on, Edward changed the direction he was looking - no, gazing, and he stared directly into my eyes. I noticed his eyes weren't so black today. Then again, he'd only gone hunting several days ago and wasn't quite so thirsty.

"Don't be sorry. Please." Edward stood up and was sitting beside me on my bed in an instant. "I just can't... I can't possibly understand why you would _want_ to be damned to eternal immortality."

"I love you, Edward. I want to be with you forever." I squeezed his fingers softly. "And if this is how I can do that, then I am more than willing. Okay?" It was more of a statement than a question, but he answered it nonetheless.

"Not really."

"Edward, stop being difficult." I narrowed my eyes. "It's bad enough that you're preventing me from visiting Jacob as it is." The truth was that I was actually planning to sneak over to La Push at some point. Not that it'd be an easy task, of course.

"You know that's completely different. I don't want you hanging around with werewolves."

"But it's alright to be in the constant company of a vampire?" I joked. Edward didn't seem amused, though.

"Difference being, I know that I would never harm you. I'd rather die than hurt you in any way, Bella, you know that." Edward sighed. "I cannot be there to protect you, so you're not going. Even if I could set foot on their land, I still wouldn't let you go. End of, okay?"

"Not really." I mocked, laughing slightly. "Anyway, we weren't talking about Jacob to begin with. I was talking about me becoming a vamp -" Edward silenced me with his fingers covering my lips. Oh, how refreshingly cold they were.

"Charlie." Edward simply stated, and he was gone.

Moments later, I heard Charlie's footsteps approach my bedroom and then a gentle rap on the door followed. I could simply tell him I was getting changed, but seeing as it was now three o'clock in the afternoon and I hadn't travelled downstairs since lunch, he was probably growing suspicious. And he had every right to be, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Come in!" I called to him, as I dangled my feet over the side of my bed.

Charlie opened the door sharply and stepped into my room. "Are you seeing Edward today?" I could sense that Charlie was resisting the urge to roll his eyes, already certain of the answer to his question.

"Yes, I will be." Natural instinct told me to ask him if it was okay, but seeing as I knew it wasn't, I left it. At least if I didn't query, he wouldn't change his mind and Edward could still come round. For the second time that day but, yet again, Charlie did not know that.

"Alright," Charlie replied prominently, rubbing the stubble on his chin. "I'm going to Billy's tonight. I thought you might want to come with me - you haven't been down there for so long, Bella. Jacob doesn't seem to be getting any better emotionally; it would do him the world of good if you saw him." My face must have contorted slightly without me realising. "It's not like I'm saying you can't see Edward at all today. Besides, Bella, I'm sure he can go one evening without seeing you!"

"You're incorrect and perhaps it's the other way round, anyway." I muttered darkly.

"Well, if that's the case, you need to sort out your priorities, kiddo." Charlie spun round and headed for the door, before stopping and turning his head an inch before he exited my room. "Look, Bella, it's not that I hate Edward...I really don't. I'm just scared he'll do it again." Before I could ask Charlie what 'it' was, he'd walked out of my room quickly and closed the door.

"I'm not going to leave you again, Bella."

Edward appeared beside me, wrapping his frozen arms around my waist. After such a short, heated discussion with Charlie, Edward's arms cured me immediately and my body temperature felt like it was lowering.

"I've known for a while...he's been thinking it every time I come through your front door." I glanced up into his eyes. "Each time I 'go home' he thinks it's the last time he'll see me. And you...in a way."

"In a way?"

"Yes, it's like -" Edward paused abruptly. His eyes surveyed the room, looking dark and frozen before they seemed to melt and return back to normal. "Sorry, false alarm. Charlie was about to come back up and add to what he'd said, but thought better of it."

"So...in a way?" It wasn't the first time I'd heard that said, and it almost brought tears to my eyes.

"In a way... He thinks I'm stealing your soul if I depart again...or for good." Edward practically whispered. "He can't go through watching you painfully cease to be nothing, like you're on autopilot, an empty shell. And most importantly, he doesn't want you to _feel_ that pain again."

My eyes glare down at the floor as if I can almost see right through the floorboards, through the ceiling and to Charlie sitting in his armchair, watching some sports match on the television. How could he possibly believe Edward would leave me? Yet again, I'd thought the same thing when he had returned. But, no, I don't understand. He can't think this. He _won't _think this.

"I -"

"I'm not finished." Edward interrupts, ruffling my hair with his hand lightly. "He also thinks that you shouldn't limit yourself to just seeing me every day." I begin to protest, but he won't let me get a word in edgeways. "I see his point."

"You know - he- he doesn't really mean my - my friends at school, Edward. He means...Jacob." I manage to blurt out, stumbling over my words.

"Yes, I know." Edward said. "But they're who I mean. Just try and socialize with them, okay? As long as I know you're making an effort."

"Perhaps I'll just _pretend _to make an effort."

"You know that I'll know you're pretending, Bella," Edward pointed out, grinning mischievously. "I wouldn't bother if I were you." Edward kisses my nose. "Maybe I shall grant you permission to visit Jacob. If you see him occasionally, your father might not make you hang out with the humans at school..."

Edward narrows his eyes, clearly thinking quite strenuously about what he has just said.

"Are you sure?" I'm elated; but is Edward promising this or simply stating it's a possibility?

"Of course, you'll have a limited time, there." I roll my eyes and he notices. "Every second that passes without you, Bella... I can't handle it. I'll be worried to death about you when you're in La Push and I can't have you over there for an entire day."


End file.
